LUMCON

Alright so, FRiday and Saturday our group was at LUMCON Research station in south west Louisiana. It stands for Louisiana university marine conservatory, and conducts research on the marine environment and the effects of human activities.

On Friday morning we took the two hour bus ride out to the station, and a town called cocarie.
Sadly when we arrived the winds were too high and our canoe trip of the marshes was canceled. So some of us played volleyball for a while, Before heading to row. To check out the only restaurant/bar/grocery store. Also we hung out in the local pool, super tiny but effective at cooling us off. Dinner, provided by local women cooking at LUMCON, was chicken gumbo with potato salad and grits. Tasty. Finally we ended up walking around town, enjoying the sunset before crashing the local "club house". Loud music and cheap beer helped all of us bond hah.

Saturday morning came bright and early with a breakfast of eggs, and grits. We loaded up some sandwiches and nets before heading out to the Trinity barrier island. A beautiful 45 min boat ride took us through both man made channels, and natural bayeu passageways. The island was beautiful, but looked like a dessert. Insanely hot. We played in the gulf of Mexico, chased crabs, combed the beach for shells and swam in the bayeu. We used the nets to scoop up organisms for study. Found all sorts of fish, jellies, shrimp and others. On the way back to the station we saw a few dolphins playing in the channel. An hour later we were back on the bus headed for New Orleans.

We are staying in a hotel called the Olde Town Inn and the old buildings are charming but obviously ancient. It has a cute courtyard, great staff and kitties roaming just looking for friends. It has a southern charm. But few outlets. Saturday night after we had all checked in and showered the gulf sand away we explored the local area. We are about a mike from the French quarter, but is a straight walk. So we had dinner down there, I had a shrimp po'bou sandwich and Cajun salad. Shirty service but Loved the food. Later we found a drag show in the local gay bar and made friends with the bartender to get some tasty free drinks with the queens. Great fun.

Welcome to the Crecent City!

Ok so I didn't update yesterday because when I finally had time I was too exhausted.
So I took off from DIA airport at 6 am and had a brief layover in Houston before touching down in "Loosiana", as the locals say, around 11.

I took a cab into the city and headed to the Garden District, specifically the prytania park hotel. Since our rooms went ready yet I found two of my classmates, Kristina and Amy, and we went for an adventure.

Out first stop was actually unexpected, when a local woman asked for a cigarette. Kristina obliged and we ended up talking to Theresa and her 10 month old son for a half hour. She gave us some great restaurants to visit, bars to try out and tips about the trolly and bus systems. She was hilarious.

After talkin to her we ended up at the civil war museum on the edge if the art district. Although they didn't allow photographs of their artifacts it was a cool stop. They had a Ron of stuff there and even more information.
Next we continued walking toerless the French Quarter. We went into a few shops, petted a mule a meet locals trying to con us out of our $. (didn't work) we ended up eating lunch at the Napoleon House. I had a Pimms cup and red beans an rice. So good. We continued exploring and ended up waiting out a rainstorm in a local pub. Found out hurricanes are delicious hah. Later we silts dinner at bubba gumps shrimp shack and I tried Cajun shrimp. So spicy! But delicious. Finally we headed home.

Luckily for me I got to room with Kristina. We both passed out pretty fast.

Now I'm on the bus to the LUMCON research station for a canoe trip into the marshes. Exciting.

Travelin'

Alright so the time has finally come. I leave for new Orleans tomorrow morning bright and early (6am flight out if DIA). Im super excited but rightfully nervous. Big city, alone, and only a lowly map to guide me I find myself anxious to meet up with my classmates at the hotel.

So, in preparation for this class I reviewed the book "The Trouble With City Planning: What New Orleans can Teach Us." by Kristina Ford. It was fairly interesting as well as entertaining, as far as planning literature goes. I suggest checking it out. I'll post my review soon.

Wish me luck on my travels tomorrow.
I'll post as often as possible!
Ciao

Urban planning?

Inspired Bicycles - Danny MacAskill April 2009

Ok So check out the above link, then come back and I'll explain.

This video is a perfect example of how different people use the urban environment. Essentially making it "multi-use". We recently looked at it in my Human Geography class, and it got me thinking: How do I, or anyone else, use the urban environment differently then it was intended?

It's a pretty interesting thought, and I have yet to find an instance where I do use the urban setting for something other then it's intended. I'll have to keep better track.

Midterm

Alright, so for my Hazard Planning class this quarter our midterm project was to review a states mitigation plan and create a website with out findings.

My group was assigned Nevada. Not a very exciting state on first glance, but once we got into our research we realized that Nevada is much more interesting then previously though. (In terms of hazards anyway)

Our Website! 
Above is the link to the website we created. It turned out pretty cool.



Overall, Nevada has a FANTASTIC Enhanced Hazard Mitigation Plan in use right now. They are well prepared and are secure in receiving funding.




Check It out!!!!

Buildings

So quick post, I've been super busy lately, so sorry for the late (and little) update.

Ok, so this Hazards Planning class has officially ruined my ability to enter a building without first identifying how many structural and non structural things will kill me in even of an earthquake.

Crazy Weather!

Alright. In the last few days there has been a few significant hazard even occurrences, including tornado in the east , historic wildfires in Texas, and yet another earthquake in Japan.
I've included links to a few  pretty amazing webpages focusing on either weather, probability, and the big one; earthquake notifications!

Cliff Mass - Weather Blog

The Cliff Mass Weather Blog is a fantastic tool for understanding the crazy weather in the Pacific Northwest. 

UW Probcast

Another great resource for understanding weather, and probability used in forecasting. 

USGS - Earthquakes!

Alright now here's my favorite link today, the USGS's Earthquake's page! There are some great resources on this webpage, including the earthquake notification system. I just signed up for it, on both email and text messaging.

Alright that's it for now. I'm headed to my first NOLA meeting so I'm sure there will be a larger post in the near future.

Mitigation

      No matter where you reside, you are subject to an environment that makes you susceptible to hazards. The hazards where I live in Bellingham Washington are different for where say someone who lives in Denver, Colorado. However, each city and therefore county has to mitigate against these hazards, deciding how to divvy up budgets to address each one.

(Mitigate: Activities that prevent a disaster., reduce probability of them happening, or lessen damaging effects of unavoidable disasters.)

     In my Hazards Planning course this quarter, we prepared for an upcoming quiz by profiling the hazards for Whatcom County (this is where I live). Each team had a very different take on the situation.

My team identified seven hazards that residents in Whatcom County have to deal with. They were:
1) Winter Storms (Blue)
2) Flooding (Pink)
3) Landslides (Green w/ Black writing)
4) Earthquake (Orange)
5) Tsunami (Yellow)
6) Volcano (Purple)
7) Wildfire(Green w/ Blue writing)
     Our second step was to create a set of scales that we could use to profile the hazards against one another.The tricky part was creating units for each scale that fit every hazard. Then to place each hazard along each scale. We took into account how each hazard would specifically effect Whatcom County. For example, a Tsunami, though scary, would cause very little damage to coastal areas due to barrier islands and a protective bay. Winter storms on the other hand are common and very unpredictable for this area. Our scales were:
1) Intensity - Units: 1 -10 in terms of deaths and destruction (no change to total destruction)
2) Frequency - Units: 100 Year time-line - (Infrequent to Frequent )
3) Speed of Onset - Units:  (slow to fast)
4) Duration - Units: 1 Minute - 1 Week
5) Spatial Extent - Units: Neighborhood Wide - County Wide
     The next step was to display these scales in a public friendly way. We chose a flip chart:

Sadly I accidentally cropped out the right hand side. But you get the idea.

    The final part of this exercise was to pretend to delegate a million dollar budget to mitigate against these hazards. It's difficult to decide how to split the budget. Should we spend more money on hazards that are low intensity but frequent such as flooding or winter storms? Or should we plan for the disastrous, infrequent hazard like an earthquake?

What a Hazard

This quarter I have a class entitled Natural Hazard Planning taught by the influential Scott Miles.

I'll admit that it makes me a little nervous, simply because the subject matter can be rather depressing (as well as the proposed work load being astronomical). However, I realize it will be vital in helping me become a successful planner as well as lend a better understanding for my summer course in New Orleans this year. 

We've been discussing the difference between a hazard, a disaster and an emergency. Here are some definitions
Natural Hazard: A potentially damaging physical event ex: landslide, hurricane, earthquake, tsunami. 
Disaster: The destruction of human-use processes, such as infrastructure, and impact on livelihoods.       The main classification principle is that the event results in the inability to cope.
Emergency: The urgent response needed to cope with a hazard. May not be disastrous.

These terms help Emergency Planners and such programs as FEMA both plan for and deal with Natural Hazards. 

There are 5 supposed elements of the comprehensive emergency management cycle.

• Mitigation is strategically preparing for a hazard
• Preparndess is helping with Response EX: storing water, or making escape plans

My class in New Orleans this summer will be focusing on the Recovery section of this cycle. However this step incorporates Mitigation and Preparedness in such ways as building houses meant to cope with flood waters or the moving of important buildings to higher ground.

The Eco-Village

     Since being a Sustainable Planning major and the beloved Huxley College is what my life is currently about, I figured I could bring some of the knowledge I'm packing away to my blog.

     Recently I've been researching what is called an Eco-Village. These amazing intentional communities are designed to live simply, symbiotically and sustainably with the environment. They incorporate not only sustainable technologies but the very best of Urban Design.

     From the technology standpoint, Eco-Villages focus is to reduce their resource consumption, mainly electricity. To accomplish this most have large banks of photovoltaic (PV) systems. These PV generate electricity by converting the suns rays into energy. This energy can be used immediately or stored in batteries or better yet, sold back to the local energy company to generate either cold hard cash, or an energy credit. This energy credit can be used during times of decreased sunlight or when current electricity demands exceed the amount being produced. Along with PV systems, solar hot water is an extremely common addition. The most basic of all technological advances though? Simply unplugging unused electricity using appliances. Called a "Phantom load", the amount of electricity an appliance can consume while remaining plugged in when not in use can be crippling! Use power strips, unplug it, or invest in a TED (The Energy Detective), a device that monitors energy consumption in real time. It's rather eye opening.

     This picture is of Common Ground Eco-Village on Lopez Island, WA. The PV system  shown provides enough power for 30 residents as well as an energy credit created in the summer. Solar hot water systems are shown atop the houses.







     The use of Urban Design in an Eco-Village helps to ensure a minimized footprint for the community. Clustering buildings and allowing for the maximization of open space reduces the amount of land disturbed. This clustered approach also helps to foster a strong sense of community among the members. Bringing sustainable design into the buildings themselves proves a great way to decrease resource consumption without much daily effort. For example, a passive solar design allows for more natural light in a house, reducing the reliance on electricity power light sources.  Small floor plans ensure a reduction in heating necessity as well as a reduction in unused space.

Example of Clustering - Common Ground Eco-Village
Lopez Island WA



Passive Solar Design - Common Ground Eco-Village
Lopez Island WA

     
     My examples are all from he same source, Common Ground Eco-Village because I actually interned there in the summer of 2009. I was part of the crew installing the PV system as well as adding some finishing touches to the community. I learned so much from the project as well as gaining some life long friends.
    Personally I LOVE the idea of living in an Eco-Village. Hopefully, someday.
Lopez Community Land Trust

The Big Easy

As an Sustainable Planning major in Huxley College I will be expanding my education with a week long trip to the beautiful New Orleans this summer. My time in the Big Easy will be focusing on a few specific points such as:

• Examining New Orleans' historic development and contemporary situation
• Understanding the relationship between the physical city and its natural setting
• Learning firsthand about plans for neighborhoods, historic preservation, transportation and resilience
• Touring the Lower 9th Ward via Brad Pitt's 'Make It Right Foundation'
• Participating in LUMCON research station's guided canoe tour of marsh ecology and boat trip to Barrier Islands
• Discovering the catastrophic impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on Gulf Coast wildlife 

The devastating effects of the BP Deepwater

Horizon Oil Spill.

      I'm very excited to be able to take my education into the field. The point of this blog is to bring what I am learning to my followers because I believe that sustainable planning efforts are a very important part of the Green Revolution. As I prepare for this course I will continue to post about what I am learning here on campus. 

 

Brad Pitt's "Make It Right Foundation"